On Kessel, Luke picks up the trail of his two friends, only to come face-to-face with a weapon so awesome, it can wipe out an entire solar system. It is a death ship called the Sun Crusher, invented by a reclusive genius and piloted by none other than Han himself…

Han Solo and Chewbacca travel to Kessel as representatives of the New Republic, but are attacked and imprisoned by the ragtag forces of Moruth Doole. Doole fought for and won control of the spice mining planet and its prison facilities after the fall of the Galactic Empire, and holds a grudge against Solo from their smuggling days. Han and Chewbacca are forced to mine luminous glitterstim in the underground darkness where it grows.

Leia Organa Solo tries to balance her governmental duties with the return of her two older children, the toddlers Jaina Solo and Jacen Solo, from protective hiding. Han's disappearance weighs heavily on her mind, although he and Chewbacca manage to escape with fellow slave Kyp Durron, only to stumble on Maw Installation, a secret, hidden Imperial military research-and-development facility home to a Death Star prototype. Its residents are waiting in vain for Grand Moff Tarkin to send orders to deploy the deadly Sun Crusher.

Han convinces scientist Qwi Xux of the evil her creations are used for, causing her to help steal the Sun Crusher and defect with the escaped prisoners. Kyp uses his latent Force abilities to guide the ship around a maze of black holes where they run into the recaptured Millennium Falcon, piloted by Luke and Lando. The pursuing fleets of Kessel and Maw Installation are left to battle each other.

Meanwhile, Leia and Mon Mothma select the moon Yavin 4 as the location for a new Jedi academy. Luke is pleased with the selection, and invites Kyp Durron to join in future training.

At one point Luke thinks back to his duel with Darth Vader on Bespin, and that Vader told him, "Luke, I am your father!" This is a frequent real-world misquotation of the actual line, "No, I am your father!"